Known vacuum cleaners are usually operated with a paper filter bag which can be inserted into a dust compartment of a vacuum cleaner. These vacuum cleaners generally have a filter bag carrier which is attached in the dust compartment. The filter bag is held in the operating position in the vacuum cleaner by means of a stiffening plate affixed to the filter bag, which is preferably made of cardboard and can be inserted in the filter bag carrier. An opening via which dust-laden vacuum intake air can be passed into the filter bag is provided in the stiffening plate.
Such a vacuum cleaner is known from DE 40 13 572 C2, for example. The vacuum cleaner there has a dust bag space which can be closed with a cover. A holder for a stiffening plate of a dust bag is arranged in the dust bag space. When the stiffening plate is inserted, a locking member is moved from a locking position so that the locking member blocks the cover from closing when the stiffening plate is absent and allows the cover to close when the stiffening plate is inserted.
These types of locking members are so-called filter locks which only allow the vacuum cleaner cover to be closed when the filter bag is correctly inserted.
A filter lock known from DE 39 20 313 A1 has an insertion device for a filter bag having guide elements which are adapted to a filter bag flange and an actuating element which only releases the suction function when the filter bag is correctly inserted.
Recently, reusable dust collectors have come into use, replacing the disposable filter bags conventionally used. Such a dust collector is known, for example, from DE 100 21 594 A1.
It has been shown that the user wishes to be able to use the reusable dust collector or the disposable filter bag as required. For this purpose, the vacuum cleaner is constructed so that it can be operated with a disposable filter bag or a reusable dust collector as desired. A disadvantage, however, is that the filter locks known for operation with filter bags cannot function easily when operated with dust collectors.
The conventional solution for alternative operation using filter bags or dust collectors either envisages completely dispensing with a filter lock or providing two different filter locks as in one vacuum cleaner already on the market. If two different filter locks are provided, one is specially adapted to a filter bag and the other is specially adapted to the dust collector. A disadvantage here however is that the user must additionally change the suitable filter lock when changing the operating mode between filter bag operation and dust collector operation. This is not user-friendly and the user is frequently overtaxed by mounting or dismounting the respective filter lock. In addition, continually changing the filter locks involves the risk of damaging the relevant components.